The Arts Council of Central Louisiana presents “An Encounter with Simone Weil” with Director, Producer, and Editor Julia Haslett as part of the South Arts Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers at the Coughlin-Saunders Performing Arts Center in Downtown Alexandria on Tuesday, October 16th at 7:00pm. Following a screening of her feature film, “An Encounter with Simone Weil,” Haslett and the audience will engage in a discussion about the film and her work as a filmmaker. Tickets can be purchased for $5.00 one hour prior to the screening Coughlin-Saunders, or by calling the Arts Council at (318) 443-4718.

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” These words, written by Simone Weil, French philosopher, activist and mystic, provide the engrossing entry point to “An Encounter with Simone Weil,” Julia Haslett’s exploration of moral responsibility against the backdrop of 21st-century America. Nobel Prize winner Albert Camus described Weil as “the only great spirit of our time.” She was a tireless advocate for the poor and unemployed. Haslett’s own struggles with suffering––her father committed suicide and her brother battles severe depression––are interwoven with Weil’s dramatic life story, to create a deeply moving film about living life with compassion.

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of South Arts. Southern Circuit screenings are funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Arts Council would like to acknowledge Capital One as the title sponsor of the Southern Circuit in Alexandria.